Full Citation

Title: Reevaluating the Parent Happiness Gap: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey

Citation Type: Conference Paper

Publication Year: 2018

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Abstract: Both scholars and the public have been fascinated by the question of whether parenting increases adults’ wellbeing, or reduces it. Yet despite of decades of research on the topic, the answer to it remains unclear. Using a novel, new source of nationally representative data, the Wellbeing Module of the American Time Use Survey (2010, 2012, 2013), this study aims to resolve this debate by investigating whether parenthood may have both positive and negative effects on adults’ wellbeing, whether the parenting wellbeing gap emerges during certain activities (i.e., market work, nonmarket work and leisure), or in the presence or absence of children; and whether it is driven by women more so than men. Our results reveal that a wellbeing gap exists, but in a far more complex way than previous research has suggested. We find that parents experienced more positive affect than adults who were not raising children, but also more negative affect. This pattern, however, only existed during non-market work, and leisure—not during paid labor—and in the presence of children. Contrary to our expectations, these patterns were the same for men and women.

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Authors: Negraia, Daniela, V; March Augustine, Jennifer

Conference Name: Population Association of America Annual Meeting

Publisher Location: Chicago, IL

Data Collections: IPUMS Time Use - ATUS

Topics: Family and Marriage, Work, Family, and Time

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